Robert Donat

ROBERT DONAT d1958. English film and stage actor best known for The 39 Steps (1935) and Goodbye Mr Chips (1939), the latter for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. "The British cinema's one undisputed romantic leading man in the 1930s was Robert Donat," wrote Jeffrey Richards in his book The Age of the Dream Palace. "The image he projected was that of the romantic idealist, often with a dash of the gentleman adventurer ...." He suffered from chronic asthma which affected his career and limited him to appearing in only twenty films, most notably including ; The Count of Monte Cristo (1934) / The Citadel (1938) / Captain Boycott (1947) / Lease of Life (1954) and The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958). His last spoken words in this film were prophetic, "We shall not see each other again, I think. Farewell ....." He died in London aged 53 on 9th June 1958 of a brain tumour and celebral thrombosois.